Yvan Muller conscious of limited time left to catch ‘Pechito’

With seven weekends out of 12 complete, and with Citroën now having won 12 out of the 13 races held so far, there’s little question of this year’s World Touring Car champion coming from the French marque, but four-time champion Yvan Muller is well aware the gap between himself and points leader José María López will be hard to close down in the remaining races.

López has a 39 point lead over the Frenchman, with Muller having suffered DNFs at Morocco and Austria through accidents not of his own making, and a drive-through penalty at the Slovakiaring dropping him to tenth, due to an error made by Muller at the start.

López’s season has been more consistent however, aside from one mechanical failure which robbed him of a result in the second race in Russia.

Next up is the Argentinian’s home race, where he took victory last year in the Wiechers-Sport BMW on his WTCC debut.

“The Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo is an interesting circuit to drive on,” said Muller. “It’s fast, and there are overtaking opportunities. I have to continue to produce really good weekends like I did at Spa-Francorchamps to try and close the gap on ‘Pechito’. We have a habit of saying that there’s still a long way to go until the end of the season, but it’s getting closer all the time!

López has had the respite of a break after the intense start to the WTCC season with seven race weekends betweeen April and June, though compared to his previous calendar competing in the Super TC 2000, Turismo Carretera and TRV6 series all simultaneously in recent years, it hardly compares.

“When I used to race in Argentina, I would compete in as many as 44 meetings a season,” said López. “So I couldn’t wait to get back in my C-Elysée WTCC again! Unlike most of the European circuits, I know the Termas track very well, and I have always done well here. That said, I think it will be close with Yvan and Seb again. We’re going to have to fight hard, as we have in every race this season.”

Sébastien Loeb is continuing to have a strong debut season in the WTCC, even though the nine-time World Rally champion is falling behind his two team-mates in the points, he’s still on target for a safe third in the drivers’ standings in his first full-year of circuit racing.

The French driver has always been welcomed by the Argentinian crowd in his World Rally Championship days, where he was a dominant force in the Citroën C4 and DS3 WRC cars.

“Coming to Argentina is always a huge pleasure,” said Loeb. “The welcome we get from the crowd is incredible. It’s really great to see so many people who are crazy about motorsport. I have great memories here, with eight WRC wins, and I hope to add some more in the WTCC. I need to keep improving, especially in the pack, where you have to overtake at the start of the race.”